SkyShowtime CEO Monty Sarhan has announced a slate of new appointments ahead of the launch of the service later this year to 20 European markets.
“These talented individuals bring a wealth of expertise from across the industry and will play a critical role in the success of SkyShowtime,” said Sarhan. “I know all of them will work passionately and enthusiastically to drive our business forward as we gear up for our upcoming launches across Europe.
The following appointments will join Sarhan’s leadership team:
- Francesca Pierce has been named Chief Financial Officer. Pierce, who joins from Sky, was one of the key members of the team that helped shape the SkyShowtime project and brings significant experience in financial planning and commercial negotiations to the leadership team. She first joined Sky from Bear Stearns in 2006 and worked in several finance leadership roles across Sky, including content and channel operations, strategy and insight through to her most recent role as Director of Finance, New Businesses and Markets. Pierce will report directly to Sarhan.
- Jen McAleer has been appointed Chief Brand Officer. McAleer also joins from Sky where she has worked as Group Brand Director and was instrumental in helping to create and develop the SkyShowtime brand over the past year. McAleer is an experienced and innovative leader and brand-builder who has worked across multiple industries, with a talent for creating and executing insight-led brand strategies and propositions across customer touchpoints. Prior to Sky, she worked at Tesco where she held the position of Group Own Brand Director. As a leader, she has driven values-led cultures and engagement with internal teams. She will also report to Sarhan.
- Richard Howard joins as Chief Marketing Officer from NBCUniversal where he served as Senior Vice President of Marketing for hayu, its all-reality streaming service. Howard will build and lead the performance marketing team and will be responsible for all marketing and customer growth activities across all regions and channels. He will report to McAleer.
- Josh Snow has been named Chief Product Officer. He also joins from NBCUniversal where he worked as Senior Vice President of Product and Design. Snow’s multi-platform expertise spans web, app, and mobile experiences. He brings a deep knowledge of the Peacock platform, which is the technology foundation for SkyShowtime, along with significant product strategy and development experience from across the entertainment and sports sectors. The data, customer service, and product teams will all report into Snow. He will report to Sarhan.
- Henriette Petersen has been named Regional General Manager for Northern Europe. She joins from Paramount where she served as Director of Marketing and was a driving force and played a key role in the launch of Paramount+ in the Nordics. Petersen brings a wealth of experience in the entertainment and direct-to-consumer space. She will lead the distribution and partnership team and work closely on marketing and content initiatives in the region. Petersen will report to Sarhan.
- Gabor Harsanyi has been appointed Regional General Manager for Central and Eastern Europe. He joins SkyShowtime from Paramount, where he served as General Manager for Central and Eastern Europe, Austria and Switzerland. He is a proven leader in the sector having also previously worked for HBO, as well as Coca Cola. Harsanyi’s remit will cover business development and negotiation of SkyShowtime partnerships across the region, including with distributors and third parties. He will report to Sarhan.
SkyShowtime’s offering will include over 10,000 hours of content including the television premieres of first-run theatrical films from Paramount and Universal; new scripted series from Showtime, Paramount+, Sky Studios, and Peacock; local original programming; kids and family programming from Nickelodeon, DreamWorks, and Illumination; and a rich library offering across all genres and tapping into key franchises from the Universal and Paramount catalogues.
The streaming service will over time be rolled out to these markets: Albania, Andorra, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Hungary, Kosovo, Montenegro, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden.
Further details on SkyShowtime, including pricing and launch dates, will be announced at a later date.